Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Mosul Campaign Day 135, Feb 28, 2017

The Iraqi Forces (ISF) were mostly consolidating their hold
on the areas they took in west Mosul, while two more advances were announced,
but not corroborated officially. First, on February
27 a large attack by the Islamic State was turned back at the Ghazlani Base
that was freed on February 24. Apparently not all of the camp had been taken
either as the Federal Police cleared a Mosque there. On February 28 Iraqi
officers claimed Wadi
Hajar and Dawas
were liberated. Those have not been made official yet however. Otherwise the
ISF were going
through Hawi al-Josaq and Mamun looking for IEDs and any left behind IS
fighters. Engineers
started work on constructing a pontoon bridge across the Tigris River where the
Fourth Bridge used to stand before the U.S. Coalition bombed it. The bridge is
suppose to allow more forces to flow into west Mosul as well as supplies.

There were several reports on the difficult conditions
within west Mosul. Reuters
went along with a unit from the Rapid Reaction Division, which is moving along
the Tigris River. Police talked about how the layout of the city with its
winding roads and dense housing was slowing the advance. Twoarticles
by Iraq Oil Report noted that Coalition and ISF shelling and air strikes were
causing a high number of civilian casualties. Some buildings IS were using as
fighting positions had civilians hiding in the basement who were killed when
they were hit by Coalition planes. ISF shelling on Wadi Hajar and Mamun also
killed and wounded a large number of people. Residents said they saw people
trapped in collapsed buildings. During the day 31 people were said to have been
killed by ISF fire and another 10 wounded. Finally, the Islamic State lined up
33 former police officers along the Tigris River and executed them. That was to
intimidate the Iraqi forces and civilians on the other side of the river. Another
10 people were killed by IS mines, and 3 died and 2 were wounded by its mortar
fire. West Mosul is very compact and there are several hundred thousand people
still living there. Together that makes any shelling or bombing missions likely
to cause collateral damage. The insurgents have consistently fired mortars and
rockets upon liberated areas. This is mostly going unreported however.

To the west and south of Mosul the army and Hashd are going
through a number of towns. The 9th, 15th, 16th
Divisions and the Al-Abbas Division liberated
six villages
from February
27 to 28. This is meant to shore up the perimeter around Mosul.

Despite all the heavy fighting going on the Iraqi government
returned to its propaganda releases. Federal Police General Raed Shakir Jawadat
was quoted
as saying that the Islamic State’s leaders were fleeing Mosul, and that the
group was falling apart. Iraqi officials have been talking about IS being
defeated since October.

To the west General Najm Jabouri the commander of Ninewa
Operations said
that the 15th Division would take Tal Afar. Who would be given this
task has been a point of contention since the Mosul operation started in
October. Originally the Hashd were given control of the area west of Mosul
including Tal Afar. Then Turkey put up such a fuss about it that Baghdad signed
an agreement with Ankara to have the army and police to take the town. Nothing
happened however as the ISF were too bush with Mosul to spare any units. Next
National Security Adviser Falah Fayad stated that there was nothing to stop the
Hashd from entering Tal Afar. They continued trying to cut Islamic State supply
lines in the area however rather than heading for the village. Next, the Ninewa
council let it be known that the ISF was in charge of Tal Afar again. There
doesn’t appear to be any consensus on the issue as all the back and forth
highlights. That might also be a reason why Tal Afar has been left alone so
far.

Southwest of Mosul near Qayara a tribal Hashd group found
another mass
grave of victims of the Islamic State. It was estimated that up to 100
bodies might be found there. Everywhere the insurgents have been cleared from
these murder sites have been discovered marking their destructive rule in
northern Iraq.

The Mosul operation has led to a new wave of displaced.
Around 14,000 people have fled
according to the government. The International Organization for Migration reported
that 3,000-4,000 civilians arrived at camps and another 6,000 were waiting at
checkpoints outside Mosul. This is far more than left when east Mosul was
originally entered.

The story of the United States dropping supplies to the
Islamic State in Tal Afar continued. Two members of the parliamentary security
committee brought it up. One claimed he had
documents on 26 cases of the U.S. led coalition providing aid to IS, and called
for an investigation. Another
gave similar stories and called on the government to take action. Pro-Iranian
Hashd groups have been spreading these reports since 2014. They play upon the
plethora of conspiracy theories prevalent throughout Iraq. Many believe that
the Americans are behind the Islamic State and if not directly its allies are.
This sentiment is so strong that even Baghdad sometimes denies what Washington
is providing in the fight against IS.

IRAQ HISTORY TIMELINE

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Musings On Iraq was started in 2008 to explain the political, economic, security and cultural situation in Iraq via original articles and interviews. If you wish to contact me personally my email is: motown67@aol.com